More Solar Guerrilla Marketing: A Solar "Flash Mob" Lesson

Last night, I received an email from Aimee, the community outreach coordinator atTechnicians For Sustainability (TFS), "a mission-driven solar installation company in Tucson, AZ."

Amiee writes:

After reading you post on Solar Guerrilla Marketing, TFS took to the streets and performed a solar flash mob. If you are not familiar with the flash mob concept, it's when a large group of people assemble suddenly in a public place, perform an unusual act for a brief time, then quickly disperse. We had a great time, spreading the solar message and putting a smile on people's faces.
I wanted to share the video of our guerrilla marketing flash mob with you. Please keep up the good work and continue to inspire all of us in the solar industry to get the word out in fantastic ways.

Here's the video of TFS's flash mob on You Tube. As you'll see, this concept is inexpensive, it's fun, it's creative, and it gets people's attention. It appears this was done at a local Tuscon fair or farmer's market.

Flash Mobs, from my knowledge, came out of the New York theater world, where it was expensive for struggling actors to put on a show. So instead, the actors organized a show "on the stage of real life," using their environment as the stage and random passer-bys as the audience. Famous ones were performed on a subway, in a bar, in a Starbucks, and other public places. The results are always positive for players as well as the audience.

The concept is great for companies big and small --especially small companies that don't have an ad budget. Here are some other solar flash mob suggestions:

• Do a "Free Hugs for Solar" flash mob. Make a "Free Hugs for Solar" Tee-Shirt. Put your name or web address on the back. If you can afford it, give out 25 to the first 25 hugg-ees. 
• Are you a musician as well as a solar installer? Got musician friends? Get your guitars out, string them on your back, and perform a medley of "solar" themed songs to people on the street, like an impromptu serenade. Songs like "Here's Comes the Sun," "Good Day Sunshine" and "On the Sunny Side of the Street." Make sure you're wearing a tee shirt or something with your logo. Could be even more fun if were classical music instruments, such as violin, flute, or roving Solar Dixe Land jazz band.
• Write your web address UPSIDE DOWN on a teeshirt. Get 10 friends to stand on their hands in a public park on a Saturday. Video tape it and time how long they can all simultaneously stand on their hands for solar. Have flyers to pass out or just answer solar questions to onlookers.
• Can't stand on your head? On the front of a tee-shirt write "Move forward into the future with Solar" in normal writing and your website. On the back of the tee-shirt, write in REVERSE: "Don't go backwards in time with your coal fired utility bill." Walk down the street wearing the tee-shirt while a friend carries a mirror behind your back to show what it says. When people turn around to read it, stop. Show them both sides. Tell them you're trying to raise awareness for solar power. Offer them a flyer and ask if they have any questions.
• Hire three very attractive women. Have them dress up in a lot of layers and "take it off" for climate change and solar. This has been done before by super models. As long as they stay within public decency standards, why not copy it? Just keep it to a tee-shirt with your logo and some shorts, to be safe. Make sure the women are hydrated if you do this during the summer. See the Super Model version below.

Video tape any and all of the above, edit it, insert music, and put it on your website. If you're friends aren't smiling when you show it, re-edit or re-do it, or think of something else. The point here is to give people a unique, positive (legal) solar experience. They may or may not buy from you, but they will remember X solar company that did this really neat thing the other day.

Thanks, Aimee and everyone at Technicians for Sustainablity. You guys really know how to UnThink solar.